Staying Warm
by ForTheGun
Summary: The heat goes out at the Dispatch Association. Grell's only question is... How can such a cold man be so warm? WillxGrell


A/N: Okay, so I have something to say...

As some of you may know, the Kuroshitsuji OVAs are now available on iTunes. In these special episodes, a mister William T. Spears shows an awful lot of emotion. I'm sure that a lot of you already know this, but this is for the ones that don't.

Hem hem...

-The Emotional Guide to William T. Spears; A Better Understanding of Our Favorite Office Manager-

~Crying- The Story of Will the Reaper~

Right after he get's attacked by Thomas Wallis's Cinematic Record.

~Screaming- Ciel in Wonderland (Part Two)~

At the tea party when he is trying to explain to Ciel that he is a HARE, not a RABBIT.

~Smiling and Laughing- Ciel in Wonderland (Part Two)~

When Ciel gives the wrong answer to the question, "Why is a raven like a writing desk."

~Special~

~Game Show Host- Ciel in Wonderland (Part Two)~

When Ciel rings the bell to answer the question, "Why is a raven like a writing desk?"

~... Commercial?- The Making of Kuroshitsuji II~

William hosts a commercial about Shinigami Gardening Tools, A.K.A., their death-scythes.

~Canon WillxGrell Fluff- The Story of Will the Reaper~

At one point in the episode, in William's flash-back of when him and Grell took the final exam to become reapers, William loses his glasses and has them returned to him by Grell. As Grell is pushing the glasses onto William's face, he remarks how William should take better care of them. After William's flashback, he explains to a bunch of new recruit Shinigami that work is only work, and there is no need to bring emotions into it. As he starts to leave the room, he says, "Oh, and one more thing." at this, he turns around and his normal glare softens considerably, showing a more relaxed William. The last thing he says, and the last line in the episode, is, "Be careful with your glasses." which he was quoting Grell on. You may not see it as fluff, but I do.

Wow... I feel so observant...

Anyway, sorry if the guide annoyed you. I just had the need to make one.

So, if William was an animal, what do you think he would be? I, myself have come up with a few answers to this question.

A pigeon.

A snake.

Or a penguin.

And Grell would be...

A cardinal.

A shark (or angler).

A rose.

Cause' roses are totally anijamals (AN-IH-JUH-MULLS).

Disclaimer: Me no own, you no sue!

~And with that said, let this epic tale begin...!~

(HAAAZAR!)

~•~•~•~•~•~•~

"My God! It's bloody freezing in here!" Ronald exclaimed, shivering for emphasis.

"I know! Look," Grell propped his foot on his desk, revealing a large brown knee-high boot laced all the way up, "I had to wear these dreadful old things to walk to work today!"

Ronald raised an eyebrow. "So?"

Grell stared at him, dumbfounded. "They're absolutely atrocious! Not to mention I don't own any heavy winter coats! Ronnie, how can you be complaining at all when you're all bundled up in that... That THING?"

Grell was referring to the large, heavy black coat that looked like it was consuming Ronald's torso. "Hey, it gets the job done. Who cares what it looks li-"

"Hi, Ronald!" a girl named Marisa Clemens passed by. She raised an eyebrow and put her hand to her mouth to keep from laughing. "Is... Is that supposed to be a coat?" she giggled.

Ronald's face turned beet red out of embarrassment, and he felt the sudden need to defend his weather-fighting friend. "Yeah. What about it?"

Without another word, the young woman walked away clutching her binder to her chest. Before she was out of sight, Ronald was sure he saw her mouth the word, 'jerk'.

Grell chuckled. "Maybe Ronnie's not so smooth with the ladies today?" he said teasingly.

"Shut up, senpai. I get cranky when I'm cold." Ronald grumbled, glaring down at a poor defenseless piece of paperwork laying on his desk. The paper shivered violently under his cold gaze.

Wait.

That's not right.

Grell looked over to find some new recruits opening the window. The wind from outside must've made the paper flutter. Grell, pleased with himself that he found the cause, looked down at his own paperwork. Wait.

Why were they opening windows in the middle of December?

Grell jumped up and ran to the window, slamming it shut. "Why the hell are you opening windows!" he yelled at a particularly small reaper.

"T-There was a bird trying to get in! I thought it was a messenger pigeon! I'm sorry!" the newbie cowered in fear.

"I'm sure it was just a stupid bird. Get back to training." Grell snapped harshly. The recruit scrambled away and Grell stomped back to his desk and plopped down in his chair with a huff.

Ronald looked at him with an amused expression. "I guess you get cranky when you're cold, too." Grell was silent for a few minutes, which made Ronald quite uncomfortable. "I-I'm sorry," the younger shinigami muttered, confused by the silence, "If I hurt your feelings."

"Nonsense, boy." Grell held up a finger, as if to shush someone and said, "I am simply worrying about William-dearest. He's cold-blooded. He can't possibly hold up in this temperature!" the redhead cracked a smile.

"Aw, that's a little bit mean..." Ronald put on a mock pout to force back his laughter.

Grell wiggled a finger at him and clicked his tongue. "Now now, Ronnie~ I was only teasing~" Grell stood from his chair. "Now, I don't know about you, but I'm heading to the break room to get a nice hot cup of coffee."

"Mm~ Bring me some?" Ronald sent a charming smile to his superior.

Grell glared a bit. "Fine." he started to walk toward the door on the opposite side of the room. "Lazy ass..." he muttered under his breath. As much as he loved his Ronnie-darling, sometimes he felt the boy just used him. 'Nah,' he thought to himself, 'Ronnie's a sweet kid.'

Grell looked out the windows that made up the wall of the abandoned corridor he was walking through. The snow fell hard, covering every surface outside with a thick white blanket. 'Reminds me of me and Will's first collection. That poor chap. Thomas Wallis, his name was. I'll never forget 'The Story of Will the Reaper'.' Grell chuckled to himself at the memory.

Suddenly, Grell ran into something, or rather, someone. He tumbled down on his bottom, almost breaking the glass and falling out of the window in the process. Instead of falling to the street below, though, he hit his elbow on the marble floor rather hard. He let out a strangled whimper as the contact sent a jolt of pain up his arm.

"Oh! I'm sorry."

'I Know that voice...'

The redhead felt somebody crouch down next to him. He looked up to see a delightfully familiar face. "William? I'm sorry. I spaced out a bit."

William put his hands under Grell's forearms and hoisted him to his feet. "I should the one apologizing. Are you okay? Your arm made a rather unpleasant cracking noise."

"Oh, I'm fine, darling~ Even so... Helping a lady in distress stand up, Will? Maybe you've got a little more heart than you let o- wait. Aren't you freezing, sweetheart?" Grell looked at William, mouth agape.

William knitted his eyebrows together in confusion. "No. Why would I be?"

Grell blinked a few times at this. "You're not wearing a coat or anything, you have only your suit jacket to keep you warm."

"... And? What about it?"

"The heat's gone out! It's at least -3 in here!" Grell leaned forward and placed his hand on William's forehead. It was...

Warm.

"What the hell!" Grell exclaimed, "You're so... Warm!"

"Sutcliff. I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

"Here! Feel!" the redhead removed his and his boss's gloves, then grabbed William's hands. Grell waited patiently for a response from William.

"... Oh, I guess you're right. Your hands are a bit cold." William raised his eyebrows in minor amusement.

"You GUESS?" Grell looked at him exasperatedly. An idea suddenly popped into his red clad head. The aforementioned brilliant idea went a bit like this:

Use William as your personal heater.

"H-Hey, Will?" Grell backed away from his superior and 'timidly' clasped his hands behind his back.

"Yes?" William narrowed his eyes suspiciously. 'Why the sudden attitude change?'

"Can I have a hug~?" Grell held out his arms in front of him, obviously inviting said affectionate gesture.

The taller man clicked his tongue. "No." he said bluntly.

"Come on, Will~" Grell whined and childishly stomped his foot. "When was the last time I received a proper hug from you?"

William adjusted his glasses. "Have you ever?"

Grell suddenly stopped his whining and looked up in thought, not moving his arms from their 'hug-me' position. "I think I have... See, honey? I THINK. That's how long it's been."

"Well... What will you do for me in return?" William crossed his arms over his chest.

"Well, Will~ There's a lot of things I could do for~" Grell batted his eyelashes seductively, but William interrupted him.

"For Christ's sake, none of THOSE things." William rubbed at his temples to try and sooth an oncoming headache.

"Aww. Too bad. That's what I specialize in~" Grell smiled mischeviously.

William shuddered at the thought. "Let's drop that subject, okay?"

"Fine... I'll bring you some coffee...?" Grell waited for William to say something like, 'Why would I want coffee made by YOU? (For some reason, it's Tim Curry's voice saying that)'. But it never came.

"Don't you make me coffee EVERY day?"

"Yes. It wasn't on the job application, but I do it anyway. Besides, that fact alone is all the more reason to hug me~!" Grell chirped happily.

"Fair is fair." and with that, William ACTUALLY leaned in and awkwardly wrapped his arms around Grell. The latter seemed to not sense the awkward atmosphere (or maybe he just didn't care), and hugged William back.

'Success! It's two in one! William's mysteriously warm and cozy AND he's my handsome boss! Could life... Er... Death get any better than this~?' Grell thought as he snuggled a bit closer to his man's chest.

William, not to familiar with the concept of snuggling, moved his hands to Grell's shoulders and pushed him away a bit. He coughed and tried to ignore the satisfied look Grell was giving him, like a cat who had caught a mouse and entertained itself by torturing said small rodent. "So... How about that coffee?"

/|\~/|\~/|\

"What? You mean William-senpai is actually really warm?" Ronald gasped at the odd idea, but mostly at the fact that William let Grell break his personal bubble and HUG him, for God's sake!

"Yup~! Oh, and I've known this for a while, but, have I ever told you that William has really soft hands?" Grell drooled a bit as he daydreamed about him and his boss.

"Uh-huh..." Ronald gave him a look that said, 'You must be off your rocker'.

"Ginger!" called Eric as he walked toward the pair.

Grell's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "How many times have I told you that THIS," Grell pointed to his long red hair, "Is NOT ginger?"

Eric shrugged. "Eh, whatever. Anyway, YOU have a collection in, oh," Eric checked his watch, "7 minutes."

"WHAT?" Grell jumped up and slammed his hands on his desk. He quickly grabbed his ledger and hastily walked away from his friends. "I'm going to be late. William is SO going to bloody kill me."

Eric cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, "Good luck... GINGER!" From this, he earned an irritated noise from said redhead. This alone was enough to put a satisfied smirk on his face.

/|\~/|\~/|\

Grell stumbled back through the doors of the Dispatch Association, panting and looking a bit weary. That had not been a fun collection. He had to sprint there, nearly getting himself hit by a carriage, and once he finally arrived, the woman who was committing suicide decided that she, 'DIDN'T WANT TO JUMP'. This earned some annoyance from Grell, so he decided, 'Well, this bitch has got to die somehow,' and he then proceeded to kick her off of the edge of the building. Now that he thought about it, doing that would probably get him in a LOT of trouble.

He sighed as he wearily trudged through the halls, trying his best to ignore the numbness in his body due to the freezing temperature. That was another thing. In the process of almost getting flattened by the carriage, he lost the coat he was wearing (he didn't tread on it too much, though. The coat was black, not warm enough, and didn't flatter his figure AT ALL).

'Alright, Grell,' he thought to himself, 'All you have to do is deliver this report to Will, then you can go home, take a nice hot bath, and try to avoid getting some horrible illness from the weather. He navigated his way through the maze-like hallways of the building without much trouble. 'You're almost there! Just one more turn and-' Grell found himself standing outside of William's office door. He almost knocked.

Almost.

"Hello, love~! I finished that assignment!" Grell burst through the door and threw the papers down on the taller man's desk.

"What assignment? I didn't give you an assignment." William pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"What?" Grell stared at him in confusion. "But Eric-" a sudden realization came over him, making him furrow his brows in anger and growl, "ERIC! That lazy ass pushed all of his work off onto me! How rude! Let me guess, he's already clocked out?"

"Half an hour ago..." William responded, passively looking over the reports Grell had so carelessly tossed onto his desk. "On any note, the assignment is complete, and rather flawlessly, in fact. Since when did you start doing work?" William looked over his spectacles and up at Grell.

"When you started giving your subordinates hugs, darling~" Grell chirped as he walked around the large wooden desk, set his purse down next to it, and plopped onto William's lap.

William's eyebrow twitched at this. He was about to make a move to shove Grell off his lap and onto the floor, but instead noticed a change in said subordinate's attire. "Where did your beloved coat go?"

This reminded Grell that he was still freezing to death, so he snuggled closer to William to keep warm. "Please, that old thing was anything but beloved. I lost it when I almost got hit by a carriage during my collection."

"Has nobody taught you how to properly cross the street?" William asked almost mockingly. Grell looked up and pouted at him. The normally-cold-but-somehow-deliciously-warm reaper rolled his eyes and pushed Grell off his lap. "Move for a second." he stood up and removed his own suit jacket. Grell gave him a questioning glance, to which he responded by draping the jacket over the effeminate man's shoulders. "That'll keep you warm. At least warm enough to get home." William sat back down in his office chair.

Grell's face flushed bright red. "Th-Thank you, darling. But you really don't have to-" he was cut off when William held a finger up to silence him.

"Take it. I insist." for a second, Grell swore he saw the fainted trace of a smile upon his boss's face. This made him smile widely in return.

He leaned forward and gave William a light peck on the forehead. "Always the gentleman, Will." William rolled his eyes as he registered the joking tone in Grell's voice. "Well, I have to get going. I'll see you tomorrow~!"

And on the way home, Grell couldn't help himself from snuggling into the over-sized jacket and thinking, 'It smells just like him~ Maybe I should sneak into his house and steal clothes more often~'

/|\~/|\~/|\

Later that evening, William found that Grell had left his purse sitting by his desk in his office. He had taken it upon himself to personally deliver the handbag to the redhead. He stood in front of the door to Grell's flat and gave 3 brief knocks on the door. He waited awhile, but the door never opened. Assuming that Grell was probably asleep, he dug through his pockets and pulled out a spare key to the apartment.

Hey, somebody had to drag the redhead out of bed in the morning.

Quietly pushing the door open, he peeked in and whispered, "Grell? Are you in here?"

No response.

He mentally shrugged and let himself in, closing the door behind him. He walked through a short dark hallway and opened up a door on the end that he knew led to Grell's living room. And what a surprise it was that awaited him.

There sleeping peacefully on the couch, was Grell in his usual red frilly lingerie. On a table beside the couch was several different romance books, these including 'Romeo and Juliet', and, 'The Phantom of the Opera'. In his hand, however, was a book with a warmly familiar title.

'The Story of Will the Reaper'.

William knew that Grell had always kept the manuscript for the book after their first assignment. Little did the redhead know that William too had a copy.

In Grell's free hand was William's own suit-jacket, snuggled close to the normally troublesome reaper's cheek.

William couldn't help but let his usual glare soften at the sight. Grell looked so peaceful, so calm in his sleep. Though William enjoyed the silence, he couldn't even begin to imagine what his life would be like without all the excess noise and color that was Grell. He had a feeling that it would be considerably less enjoyable.

He quietly stepped over to the couch and set the purse down. Leaning over the sofa a bit, he briefly stroked Grell's long red hair, before his hand traveled to the sleeping man's cheek and down his jawline. Grell stirred slightly, so William quickly pulled his hand away. He saw Grell's eyes shift under his eyelids, but gave absolutely no signs of waking up. Instead, he muttered something barely audible that made a slight blush creep across William's face, only slightly though.

"W-William..."

Grell seemed to cling to the suit jacket tighter. William tried his best to ignore his name being said and avoid the thought, 'I wonder what he's dreaming about', so he busied himself by gently slipping the book Grell was holding out of his grasp and setting it on the bedside table with the rest of the books. He gave Grell one last look, before he turned away and left the room.

And for a brief moment, William allowed himself to smile...

/|\~/|\~/|\

The next day, William received his normal promised cup of coffee from Grell. Also, the heating was soon fixed. Though, over the course of the month, William found articles of his clothing disappearing one at a time. The clothing always did find it's way back into William's dresser, and he even sometimes found it laying folded on his bed. But one thing he noticed was that the article of clothing that most often vanished was one he wore to work every day...

His favorite suit jacket.

~•~•~•~•~

... That was sappy.

I love reviews!


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